Brazil’s Rousseff going to U.N. over impeachment; cabinet in crisis

Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff gestures during a news conference for foreign journalists at Planalto Palace in Brasilia, Brazil April 19, 2016. REUTERS/UESLEI MARCELINO

Beleaguered Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff will travel to New York in a bid to rally international support against her impeachment, leaving behind a Cabinet paralyzed by political crisis as another minister defected on Wednesday.

Rousseff aides said the leftist leader will attend a United Nations event on Friday in New York where she will denounce as illegal the attempt to impeach her, a process that could see her forced from office within weeks in a process she calls a “coup d’état without weapons.”

Energy Minister Eduardo Braga said he was quitting her government following orders from his centrist PMDB party, Rousseff’s main coalition partner until it abandoned her last month to back her ouster. Rousseff’s impeachment would end 13 years of rule by the leftist Workers Party.

Nine ministers in Rousseff’s 31-member cabinet have now resigned, leaving important portfolios without politically appointed heads, including the Tourism and Sports ministries only four months before Brazil hosts the Olympic Games. Rousseff may not even be president by the time the Games start.

Vice President Michel Temer, who would take over if Rousseff is impeached, met with close advisors in Sao Paulo to study plans for a new government that, aides said, would move quickly to restore economic confidence and growth.

The crisis has paralyzed Brazil’s ability to revive the economy from its worst recession in decades in the midst of a massive corruption scandal involving state-run oil firm Petrobras.